Bloodlines
by Ember Quill
Summary: Evangeline thought she was the oldest still-living Shinso Vampire. She was wrong. On the night when Evangeline tries to escape from Mahora, the ancient Vampire is released from where she was imprisoned. Weak after so many centuries of incarceration, she has no choice but to acquiesce to the wishes of Dean Konoe, who wants her to...join Class 3-A? What has she gotten herself in to?
1. The Fool's Awakening

_**Author's Note:** I'll try not to do these too often. Still, I have some things I want to say. First of all, holy crap! This is it. My NaNoWriMo novel. I figured it was time to post the first chapter since I managed to write a whopping fifty thousand words of this story last month._

_Anyway, on to the important bits. YES, this is a Naruto crossover, but NO, Naruto himself isn't involved. Actually, only a single character from Naruto is involved (well, technically two, but the second one is just a cameo). Anyway, if something I say directly contradicts canon in some way, just roll with it. I haven't read the Naruto manga in several years and I have no plans to catch up.  
_

**_Disclaimer: _**_I__ do not own Mahou Sensei Negima! or Naruto. I am not profiting in any tangible way from this story or the two IPs from which I am borrowing characters and settings. This blanket disclaimer applies to this and all future chapters of this work, because I hate having to post the same stupid disclaimer at the start of every chapter. _

_Anyway, on with the show!_

* * *

Furiously struggling against the thick wooden tendrils that had bound her limbs together, a dark-haired woman looked up into the dark eyes of her captor. It was easy to see the sadness reflected in their depths. She could almost _taste_ the man's regret.

She wondered what he saw in _her_ eyes. She could feel no regret, after all. No guilt. No sadness.

Perhaps all he could see was her rage.

"I'm sorry," the man murmured. "I'm sorry it's come to this. I'm sorry that Fate has been so cruel to you. I'm sorry that I can't give you another chance. You deserved better than this."

He placed his hands together in the Ram seal, then his hands blurred into motion as he began to gather Chakra. His eyes hardened and filled with fire, though it was restrained behind an icy facade.

"But that does not excuse your actions," he continued, his hands still moving quickly. "Do you think you're the only one who has ever lost someone important to you? Do you think that I wouldn't have killed the bastards that took him away myself, given the chance?" He sighed as his hands finally stopped, clasped together in the Snake seal. "I'm going to give you some time to think about what you've done. Hopefully, you'll realize what you did wrong. Perhaps you'll even remember what it was like to live as a human being."

"_He_ made me this way!" she shouted at him, baring her fangs as she struggled against wooden bindings that refused to give an inch. She succeeded only in scraping the skin of her wrists and ankles until they bled. "He took _everything_ from me! So I gave him what he deserved. I did whatever it took to deal him the Fate that he deserved. I did what you, what the rest of Konoha could not. I became a _monster_ solely to be able to wring his neck myself."

"That accounts for one murder," the man replied coldly, as the Chakra gathered in his hands began to glow visibly, "and a justified one at that. I won't argue the point. That man needed to die." His icy glare somehow grew even colder as he continued, "But what about the tens of thousands of other corpses you left in your wake? What of the innocent lives you took on your quest for vengeance? What did _they_ do wrong? Did _they_ earn the Fate you gave them?"

"They were cowards," the woman snarled, "cowards and fools. They couldn't even see that they would need to do whatever it took to bring that monster down. The whole world was _sick_, fighting yet _another _pointless war that nobody would truly win. War was all they ever brought to the world. Death was already the only thing that awaited them. I only hastened their inevitable end."

"Weren't you one of them, once upon a time?" the man asked.

"They turned their backs on him. They let his Will of Fire die and go cold. I was one of them, once, but they betrayed his memory. They betrayed _me_. I am _nothing_ like them."

The man looked at her for a moment, staring into her eyes. Then, with a sigh, he reached out towards her. Bound as she was, she couldn't move. She could only watch as his palms brightened steadily, until she had to look away from the searing white light of his Chakra-charged hands.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry I can't bring him back. However...I cannot allow you to remain free. As one of the last remaining Shinobi in this world, my duty is to protect whatever few refugees remain after your rampage. I can only do that by ensuring that you are not free to continue killing as you please. Take the time to reconsider your mistakes, and perhaps you will finally become someone who can be allowed to live in this world. Maybe you will finally come to understand what you truly sacrificed when you abandoned your mortality."

His glowing hands clasped her shoulders.

"_**Mokuton: Inochi no Ki!**_" (Wood Release: Tree of Life)

More tendrils of wood sprouted from the ground beneath her, wrapping tightly around her body and gradually thickening. She pulled hard at her bindings, but the wood wrapped around her wrists and ankles still refused to give as the rest of her body was slowly encased.

A bone-deep lethargy swept over her, and she struggled to keep her eyes open as she was fully engulfed. Her vision faded into darkness, and her eyes closed of their own accord.

Moments later, the accelerated growth of the wood finally stopped. After eying his handiwork with distaste and regret, the man turned and walked away, leaving behind a thick tree with a monster slumbering within.

* * *

_**Bloodlines**_

_**Chapter 1: The Fool's Awakening**_

* * *

The barriers surrounding Mahora Academy and the massive tree at its center have existed as long as recorded history, far longer than the crumbled stone buried among its roots, subterranean ruins of what had once been a busy Gateport linking the Magical and Mundane worlds. There are some who believe that the World Tree itself had created the barriers, drawing on the unusually-high amount of mana permeating the area to protect itself throughout its countless years of life. Its dizzying size was a topic of much wonderment and debate, and the barriers defending it were one possible explanation for its unnaturally long life.

After discovering several naturally-occurring portals linking the Mundane and Magical worlds, the mages who first managed to break through the World Tree's barriers were not at all surprised to discover yet another connection, the strongest one yet. Directly beneath the World Tree's roots was the largest naturally-occurring gateway between the two worlds. As mage researchers continuously traveled to the area to study the tree and the various oddities surrounding it, their settlements slowly became more permanent until the town of Mahora was officially inaugurated. The town eventually became a city of scholars, a center for learning and research.

So, when the barriers protecting the tree and the city began to fade in the mid-1900s, plenty of the world's foremost magical theorists and researchers were already present to devise a solution to keep their home protected and the marvelous World Tree from mundane eyes. They developed a device that would generate magical power from electricity, and used that in conjunction with specially-developed electrical generators to power the barriers themselves. Of course, as they were the world's foremost experts in Magical Theory and Engineering at the time, they saw all of the potential flaws of this plan, and built in plenty of failsafes and backup generators to ensure that the power flowing to the barriers would never falter for even a single moment.

For over half a century, that robust setup continued to power the various protections around Mahora, some natural and others added by mages over the years, without a single interruption.

In April of 2003, when the main generator was shut off for maintenance, the backup generators failed to come online to pick up the slack and the barriers went down for the first time in known history. Deep within the World Tree, the woman who was the original source of their power finally woke.

* * *

The generators beneath Mahora Academy stuttered and groaned as they slowly returned to life. Although they were expertly maintained and had been upgraded numerous times over the years, they were still beginning to show their age as they sluggishly began supplying electricity to the city once more. A large portion of that power was sent to a special transformer beneath the school, which converted the electricity into magical power and distributed it to the barriers that protected all of Mahora.

One by one, the various protections snapped back into their proper places. The magically-sensitive technicians working on the generators heaved a collective sigh of relief as they all felt the shields settling into place once more.

That sigh was echoed by Konoemon Konoe, the dean of Mahora Academy, as he gazed through his window. Like the technicians, he could feel the barriers returning one-by-one. When the spell directly tied to the school's resident vampire began to work again, he smiled.

"Looks like Negi won," he murmured. "I'm glad I chose not to interfere."

More barriers continued to return to life. The protections around Mahora Academy were intricate and numerous, designed to keep out all of the potential threats that its resident mages could dream up. From general protections against demons and monsters to very specific protections against certain criminals and dangerous rogue mages, Mahora's various magical wards made it one of the most well-defended locations in either world.

The smile turned into a frown when he sensed something slightly off. There was an intruder in the World Tree Plaza, someone who had not been there when the maintenance had begun. Clearly the intruder had snuck in during the power outage...but how had the interloper known that the barriers would be down for long enough to sneak in? Maintenance and scheduled outages were handled so carefully that power to the barriers had _never_ been interrupted before...

Then the sensation passed. The intruder was gone.

The sensation returned a moment later, but weaker than before. It was almost as if the anti-intruder spell was having trouble determining whether the person it had detected was an intruder or a resident of Mahora.

"Well, this bears investigation," the Dean sighed as he stood up and left his office.

Using a small amount of magic to augment his atrophied muscles, he began a brisk walk towards the World Tree, moving with the speed and strength of a man half his age.

He arrived at his destination to see a very curious sight. An unconscious and deathly-pale girl was lying at the foot of the tree.

* * *

Darkness surrounded her, wrapped around her like a smothering blanket. But this darkness seemed different from the darkness that was all she had known for so many years...

"Who is she?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Even the wards aren't sure what to make of her. One moment, she's an intruder, but a moment later she is suddenly a resident of Mahora. I don't know what to make of it."

The voices she heard seemed very far away, and yet so very loud in ears that had heard nothing but the slow creaking growth of a tree for so many centuries.

"And you found her beneath the World Tree?"

"She was lying on the exposed roots around the tree, covered in dirt."

She tried to think back, to recall a memory that kept slipping from her grasp. She remembered...crawling out from a prison of wooden tendrils...digging through the soil until she emerged in the light of a moon she had not seen for so long...

And then...nothing. Her last memory was of looking up at the crescent moon.

"But how did she—"

"I am not sure how she came to be there. Given the amount of time the barriers were down, I suppose she _could_ have snuck in, then somehow fell unconscious on her way across the campus...but something about that strikes me as wrong. Why would she stop under the World Tree, of all places?"

As much as she tried to ignore the two voices that rang in her ears and pounded on her skull with mallets made of sound, she found herself unable to ignore them. They were speaking about her; she knew that for sure. With a quiet sigh, she slowly began to open her eyes so she could figure out where she was and why her head throbbed so much.

The two people in the room didn't notice at first, as they continued to discuss her, so she had a moment to surreptitiously observe them. One was a young woman, probably in her late twenties, with long blonde hair and a rather incredible figure. The other was an extraordinarily old man with an oddly-shaped head and massive eyebrows that put even the infamous Guy and Lee to shame.

Her eyes widened as her sluggish mind finally caught up. She was free. She had been imprisoned for so very long...and now she was free. She sat up with a gasp, winced as pain shot up and down her spine, and collapsed back onto the bed as her stiff muscles complained vehemently.

The old man turned and raised his gigantic eyebrows when he saw that she was conscious.

"Ah, good, you've awoken," he said, drawing the blonde woman's attention to her as well. "Good. Now, I hope you don't mind, but I have a few questions to ask you."

Questions. Questions were bad. She definitely didn't want to answer any questions. Their hospitality would turn into hostility once they discovered the truth about who and what she was. She knew she had to leave as soon as she could. She tried to sit up again and swing her legs over the side of the bed, only to come up short as shooting pain and some kind of restraints joined forces to keep her confined to the bed.

It was only at that moment when she realized that her arms and legs were bound to the rails on either side of the bed. The bindings had enough slack for her to sit up, but not much more. She experimentally flexed her arm with enough strength to tear through what appeared to be a leather cuff attached to a thin and fragile chain, only to be thwarted by her deceptively strong cuffs. With a scowl and a sigh, she looked up at the old man and finally nodded in assent. He shot her an amused glance. She responded with an icy glare.

"First of all," the man finally began, "I would like to know why you are here and how you came to be here."

"Where is 'here', anyway?" she tried to ask, but after centuries of disuse, her bone-dry throat seized up and she began to cough.

A cup of water was thrust under her nose. As it tipped towards her she struggled to bring her coughing under control while swallowing the delightfully fresh water pouring into her mouth. She was so dehydrated that the water seemed even more delicious than the freshest blood. After draining the cup completely, she sighed in relief and repeated her question while the woman placed the cup back on a table next to her bed.

The old man raised his bushy eyebrows again. "You are in the High School Infirmary of Mahora Academy," he informed her. "I found you beneath the World Tree."

_Academy? World Tree?_

"What country am I in?" she asked. She didn't recognize the landmarks he had named.

The eyebrows went up yet again. She tried not to laugh at the comical sight and barely succeeded.

"Japan," he answered. This time, he noticed her confusion and immediately asked, "Where are you from?"

She tried to let her mind drift back into the past, to remember where she had been before waking up amongst the roots of an impossibly huge tree, but her mind was still foggy and far too fixated on eyebrows to recall much more than the name of her former home.

"The Land of Fire," she answered quietly, "on the Elemental Continent."

The two strangers shared a look. When the old man turned back, she saw a glint of confusion in his eyes before he hid the expression behind a blank façade.

"Now that we've established where you are," he told her, although she certainly thought she could argue that point since she had no idea what this Japan place actually _was_, "we really need to know your purpose here, and how you came here."

"I don't know. I..." she trailed off as she looked past the old man and through the window behind him. She barely held in a gasp when she saw the massive cityscape beyond it, sprawling over both sides of a sparkling sapphire river. It was far larger than any city she had ever seen before. She opened her mouth to speak, but something else caught her attention; right in the center of the city sat a tree larger than any she had ever seen.

She felt a pull from its direction. It was only when her leather shackles caught her limbs that she realized she had been unconsciously shifting towards the window.

_No, towards the tree itself_, she suddenly understood.

And then her mind finally untangled itself and everything snapped back into place, and she finally _remembered_.

"I've been here for so long," she mumbled as memories rushed into her conscious mind. Her gaze was still locked on the tree that was calling out to her.

"Excuse me?" the blonde woman asked, speaking up for the first time since the conversation had begun.

"Someone...sealed me away," she clarified hesitantly. She didn't want to give these people too much information about herself, not when she was still in no condition to slip away. Perhaps it would be useful to stay a while, to learn her way around the new world she had found after her awakening. It was obviously quite different, just judging from the scale of the city beyond the window.

"Someone sealed me away," she repeated, "using a Wood Release technique." She missed the confused look that the two strangers shared. "I think he sealed me inside a tree. I think it was _that_ tree."

She pointed with one of her shackled hands, pulling the chain taut and surreptitiously testing its strength. It held solid, not even flexing despite her strength. It was far too strong and far too thin to be made of any normal metal.

"Interesting," the old man murmured as he stroked his excessively-long beard. It was only then that he decided to ask the question that should have been asked at the very beginning of their conversation:

"Who are you?"

She had no reason to lie. Judging by the cityscape visible through the window as well as the size of the tree that had served as her prison, many years, perhaps even many _centuries_, had passed during her incarceration. After all that time, maybe her terrible deeds had been forgotten.

There was only one way to find out for sure.

"My name is Hinata Hyuga," she answered truthfully.


	2. The Magician's New Student

In a large cabin deep within the forest surrounding Mahora, a pale little girl dressed in a frilly black dress paced back and forth, her brows furrowed. Her bare feet slapped against the wooden floorboards in a slow but steady rhythm.

"What _was_ that?" she asked herself quietly. Her waist-length blonde hair shimmered in the sunlight as she spun and began to pace towards the opposite wall.

Her thoughts drifted back to the previous night. She tried not to dwell on her rather humiliating defeat at the hands of a ten-year-old prodigy, and instead cast her mind ever-so-slightly further back, to the oddity she had noticed moments before the barrier restricting her powers had been restored, cutting her fight short...

"Don't think about it," she told herself as her mood began to sink.

She had sensed something shortly before losing her powers. She wasn't sure what it was. It most certainly wasn't something she had ever felt before. Still, the diminutive vampire knew it was important. After so many centuries of life—or _un_life, as it were—she had seen so much of both worlds that it was not easy to stump her...and yet she was nonetheless completely stumped. It was a momentous occasion.

"Something happened last night," Evangeline A. K. McDowell murmured under her breath. "Some kind of power made itself known, a power that I have never felt before."

And yet...it seemed so _familiar_...

* * *

_**Bloodlines**_

_**Chapter 2 – The Magician's New Student**_

* * *

"Hyuga-san—"

"Please just call me Hinata," the dark-haired girl interrupted in a soft voice. "My family name is..."

The old man raised one of his bushy eyebrows as she trailed off into silence. When it finally became clear to him that she would not finish the thought, he nodded.

"Hinata, your presence here puts me in a rather...difficult position," he told her. "As the Dean of Mahora Academy, it is my duty to not only see to the day-to-day administration of the school, but also to keep my students safe. I do not know who you are. I do not know what kind of threat you may pose to my charges. I do not know whether you are dangerous or benign."

_Neither do I_, Hinata thought. Though she had finally unscrambled her thoughts and memories, she still had no idea where she was, who the old man was (the younger woman had already left some time ago), or even how much time had passed since her imprisonment. Judging by the size of the massive tree outside... it had been quite some time since she had been sealed away. All she knew for sure was that she was completely at this man's mercy until he unlocked the shackles that kept her trapped in the bed.

For now, she supposed she would have to play nice. She would decide later whether to abide by whatever promises he would extract from her. After all, she knew nothing of this world after being away from it for so long. She didn't really have a choice but to go along with his plans for now.

"Why do you think I might hurt someone?" she asked. "I have no reason to do so."

"That may be true," the Dean conceded, an odd look in his eyes, "though I must be cautious, regardless."

"So... how much longer will I be chained to the bed?" Hinata changed the subject.

The bushy eyebrows shot up in apparent surprise. "Oh!" he abruptly exclaimed. "Did I forget to remove those?!"

As he bent towards one of her shackled wrists, Hinata gave him an incredulous stare. Did he really believe he had fooled her with his "forgetful old man" persona? She reminded him far too much of Jiraya of the Sannin, an old man who wore the appearance of foolishness like a disguise to throw off his enemies (or to annoy his allies; she was never quite sure which). The Dean had a similar aura of false senility.

"Now, that's much better, isn't it?" he asked as the shackles fell away from her limbs. Hinata chose not to answer as she gingerly sat up, using her arms for support. She could feel her bones creaking as she swung her legs out over the side of the bed and let her feet fall to touch the floor. With far more effort than she would normally have needed to expend, she slowly stood up.

The old man nodded and turned to walk through the open doorway of the infirmary. Apparently he expected her to follow. Completely at a loss, she chose to do so, wondering whether her new-found freedom was the result of a genuine gesture of kindness or simply a calculated risk.

* * *

"This is the main Administration Building of Mahora Academy. Most teachers and faculty have offices in here, but many choose not to use them. Mahora is rather large, after all, so some teachers simply spend their office hours in their classrooms or in the nearest staff lounge, if possible."

The Dean paused for a moment, appearing lost in thought, before he continued leading Hinata on a tour of the Administration Building. Finally he stepped through a doorway into a very large and lavish office. Curious, Hinata stopped to read the nameplate next to the door.

_Konoemon Konoe_

_Dean of Mahora_

"Is that the new student?" a male voice asked.

Hinata raised an eyebrow. "New student?" she echoed under her breath as she stepped into the office. Dean Konoe was sitting behind his desk, stroking his beard and smiling. In front of the desk stood a very tall, lanky man in a suit. His eyes regarded her through thin-rimmed glasses as he ran a hand through his spiky, platinum-blond hair.

His dark eyes made contact with her own, and looked shocked for a moment. He turned back to the Dean and raised an eyebrow in a silent question as the girl walked up to stand beside him. Konoemon knew what he was asking, and shook his head in response. He wasn't sure why the girl's eyes were such a pale, off-white color, but it certainly wasn't because she was blind.

"This is Hinata Hyuga." He caught her wince and filed that observation away in the back of his mind, along with every other oddity he had noticed thus far. "She prefers not to be called by her family name, though. Hinata-san, this is Takamichi Takahata, one of our middle-school teachers. Anyway, through some rather extraordinary circumstances, Hinata-san has somehow ended up here at Mahora and may have to stay here for a while. So I thought: why not have her play the part of a student until her situation is resolved?"

He watched Hinata's jaw drop and deliberately began to laugh his most stereotypical old-man chortle. Her expression slowly morphed from shock to resignation, just as he had expected. The old-man chortle was his favorite tactic to convince people that they should just give in and accept his odd decisions. As always, it had worked beautifully.

"Sir, are you sure—" Takamichi began to ask.

"Very sure," Konoemon interrupted, his laughter fading fast. "She has nowhere to go, and owns nothing beyond the clothes she's wearing. She really does not have much of a choice but to stay here. Mahora Academy has a scholarship fund to support students who can't afford tuition, but only _current students_. Therefore the best solution is to make her a student."

Takamichi gave him an odd look, but eventually sighed and nodded. "Should I give Hyuga-san..." he trailed off and glanced at Hinata, who had winced again, before continuing, "_Hinata_-san a tour of the school?"

"Of course," Konoemon replied. "She will be sleeping in room 660, so you can just drop her off there when you're done. Oh, and please send in the students that have just arrived outside. I need to speak with them for a moment."

Takamichi nodded and turned towards the open door. When he saw the three students waiting outside, he turned back and narrowed his eyes at the Dean, who smiled innocently as he watched the gears turn in the teacher's head. Takamichi nodded as he arrived at a satisfactory conclusion, and turned once again to lead Hinata outside, stopping a moment to send the waiting students in.

"Tatsumiya-san, Sakurazaki-san, and Nagase-san," Konoemon named the three students, "I have a small task for you three. _Yes_, Tatsumiya-san, you _will_ be paid, although we'll need to discuss your rates. If I must continue making use of your services for much longer, I'll go broke..."

* * *

"And these are the dorms," Takamichi explained as he gestured toward the building in front of them. "The Middle School campus is just down the road, close enough that it should only take you a couple of minutes to run there."

"Run?" Hinata asked, still somewhat in shock from the Dean's decision to enroll her as a student even though it had been over an hour since that particular revelation. She still wasn't sure if she should stay in Mahora, or for how long, but she supposed that she had no choice. She still had not learned much about this strange new world, so perhaps the offer to remain in Mahora as a student would give her a chance to get her bearings and decide what to do next.

Takamichi smiled wryly. "Most of the students here tend to stay up a little too late on school nights. They often oversleep, so there's a mad rush in the morning to reach their respective classes on time."

Hinata nodded as she followed the teacher into the building. Teenaged girls were _everywhere_, dashing through the halls and leaning out of doorways. Many gave the pair cheerful greetings, although some muttered inaudibly and almost shrank at the sight of them. It took Hinata a moment to figure out that they were eying Takamichi nervously. When she overheard one of them muttering "Death-Glasses," she almost laughed. Apparently her companion had a reputation. When they entered a stairwell and began to climb, she brought up the subject herself:

"So...Death-Glasses?"

He laughed ruefully. "I rarely go easy on students who break the rules, especially those who choose to instigate fights or bullying. It often takes a firm hand to stop a fight in progress, and since I often am the one who steps in to halt the fighting, it's earned me a few odd nicknames."

"But...Death-Glasses?" Hinata asked again. "Really?"

The teacher shrugged. "_I_ certainly didn't come up with the name," he explained. "But I don't really mind it. They can call me whatever they like, as long as they have learned to behave when I'm near. Anyway," he abruptly turned and exited the stairwell, "this is the third-year floor. You'll be living on this floor with your classmates."

"Will I have a roommate?" She had already seen into several rooms with open doors back on the first floor, all of which had two beds. When she saw Takamichi nod, her heart sank. "And you're just going to have me live with another student even though you have no idea who I am or what I am capable of?

"Are you trying to convince me not to trust you?" Takamichi asked curiously as they left the stairwell and began to walk down the third floor hallway.

"No, but I'm wondering why you and the Dean do," Hinata clarified. "Where I come from, people were a lot less trusting of strangers." She waited silently, hoping she hadn't made a mistake in saying that, as he considered his answer.

"I can't deny that I don't really like the look in your eyes," he finally conceded as his eyes briefly met her own, then turned away, "but I don't think you pose a threat to my students, particularly to the student who will be your roommate. I know she can take care of herself, if necessary." He turned his gaze back towards her, their eyes meeting once more. A chill swept over Hinata as his expression changed. "I do hope she won't have to, though."

Hinata wasn't sure how to answer, and was still unnerved by the man's steely gaze, so the two walked in silence until the teacher stopped in front of a door much like any of the others lining the hallway.

"This will be your room," he explained. "Number 660."

He knocked lightly and waited. Eventually, the door opened and a dark-skinned face peered out. She glanced up at Takamichi and tilted her head. Though she didn't speak aloud, it only took a raised eyebrow to convey the question she meant to ask.

"Hinata-san, this is Zazie Rainyday," Takamichi introduced. "Zazie, this is Hinata Hyuga. Were you already told about—"

Zazie interrupted him with a nod. Takamichi nodded in return. "Very well," he continued before turning to face Hinata. "This is where I'll leave you, Hinata-san," he told her. "Class starts first thing tomorrow morning. Just follow Zazie-san's lead for now."

"What about—" Hinata started to say, feeling very much like she had lost all control over her life. Why had the Dean offered to enroll her in school anyway? And in a class of students who, judging by Zazie's apparent age, had to be at least two years younger than her?

"It's all been taken care of," the teacher cut off her question. "Have fun in class tomorrow!"

Then he was gone, and Hinata was left alone with her new roommate. She turned to regard the odd girl. She couldn't decide if the oddest thing about her was her shoulder-length snow-white hair or the odd markings on her face that seemed like tattoos. And then there were her eyes, which were a light amber that was almost golden. She had not spoken a single word since opening the door.

Of course, Hinata realized that her new roommate was probably thinking similar thoughts about her abnormally pale complexion and milky-white eyes. With a small, resigned sigh, she held out a hand.

"It's nice to meet you," she greeted hesitantly.

Zazie regarded her outstretched hand before abruptly taking it in her own and shaking it twice. She nodded in reply, and although she still did not speak, somehow Hinata got the impression that she would have said, "Likewise."

With their initial greeting over with, Zazie turned and walked back into her room. Hinata followed, looking around the room as she did. It was small, but still enough to comfortably fit two people. A bunk bed was set against the back wall, with a desk on either end of the bed in the back corners of the room. There were two sets of sliding doors—behind which Hinata presumed were two closets—on the right side of the room, with a large window directly across from them on the left wall. There was also a small circular table directly in the center of the room. It was very short, its surface less than two feet from the ground, with cushions instead of chairs surrounding it.

The table was so similar to those used by the Hyuga clan that, in a way, it reminded her of home.

She distracted herself as quickly as she could, not wanting to continue that train of thought.

"So, which bed is yours?" Hinata asked quickly. Zazie pointed to the bottom mattress on the bunk bed, then to the desk on the right side of the room and the closet nearest the bed. With a nod, Hinata decided to unpack—only to realize that she had none of her posessions with her. She had only the clothes she had worn when she was sealed away.

Apparently someone had thought ahead, though. When she opened the closet to see what might be inside, she found many outfits that looked like school uniforms, as well as other assorted clothes in a variety of styles. They all appeared to be in her size, as well.

The woman she had seen upon waking up had told her that her clothes had seriously needed a wash when Dean Konoe had brought her in. She supposed her measurements might have been taken when she was undressed. Hopefully it had been the woman doing the measuring, and not the old man. He was so similar to Jiraya that she automatically assumed he was just as much of a pervert as well.

She turned away from the closet to find Zazie staring at her again. Their gazes met for a moment before Hinata looked away and moved towards the desk to see that it had been stocked full of supplies as well. Her roommate was very disconcerting. The white-haired girl still hadn't said a single word aloud, and every time Hinata turned towards her, Zazie was watching her with a strange expression.

With a sigh, Hinata went back to her closet and pulled out a set of what appeared to be pajamas, then began to change into them. She felt Zazie's gaze on her the whole time and wondered why the other girl seemed so intrigued by her.

* * *

"So you want us to spy on her?"

Dean Konoe shook his head in answer to Mana Tatsumiya's question. "Of course not. She is a student like you, after all, and that would violate her privacy. I just want you to keep an eye on her during your classes and when you spend time together. I do not need you to report her every move, but if she does anything out of the ordinary..."

"Tell you as soon as possible," Setsuna Sakurazaki answered with a nod.

"So it's passive observation that you want, then," Kaede Nagase clarified.

"Exactly," Konoe responded. "She is a mysterious stranger who, according to all the records I have checked thus far, does not exist. That on its own would be enough to merit observation, but what little she told us of her origins just creates more questions than it answers. Now, if there is nothing else you wish to discuss, you're free to go."

The three students nodded. Two of them turned and left immediately. Mana was the only one who remained. Konoemon sighed as he regarded her.

"About my fee—" she began to speak.

"I will pay your usual rate this time," the Dean replied. "However, I think we should take some time to discuss your fees...and perhaps a potential discount for a repeat customer? You'll bankrupt me if this goes on."

"We'll work something out," Mana replied with a smile. She turned and left the office, grinning in anticipation of the money she would be receiving soon.

"_Mercenaries_," the old man grumbled in exasperation as the door closed behind her.

* * *

Hinata watched with a feeling that resembled awe as a huge mass of students sprinted towards the school building. It looked like a burgundy tidal wave as hundreds of students wearing the dark red uniform of Mahora Academy stampeded down the street.

Zazie had nudged her awake early that morning, far earlier than most of the other students had awoken, apparently. The two of them had prepared for school at a leisurely pace, donning their uniforms and eating a quick breakfast of cereal and toast long before their fellow students had even opened their eyes. They were already on their way to the school building by the time the rest of the dorm began to wake. As a result, they had reached the campus just in time to stop and watch the mad rush of middle-schoolers.

Zazie tugged on Hinata's arm, so she followed the white-haired girl into the building shortly before the horde arrived. Walking briskly up two flights of stairs, they made it to Class 3-A ahead of the rush. Zazie went inside, followed by a number of sprinting students, while Hinata paused at the doorway, unsure about what she should do. Should she simply walk in and sit down? Should she wait for the teacher?

Hinata shook her head at her folly. Before her defeat and imprisonment, she had been feared throughout the Elemental Continent. Her mere name had been enough to send even the bravest opponents running for the hills. After her rampage throughout the warring Ninja Villages, the few who had witnessed her wrath and managed to escape would almost wet their pants at the sight of her.

Now, here she was, dressed in a schoolgirl uniform (complete with a skirt that was far too short for her liking), shifting back and forth like a nervous little girl at the mere thought of walking into that classroom. It was ridiculous. It was also far too much like her old self for her liking. It was the one aspect of herself that she had never managed to change. Her shyness was a part of her that could never be stripped away, no matter how many horrors she had gone through or caused by her own actions.

As a result of her inner turmoil, she completely missed the sight of a ten-year-old boy running into the classroom along with the older students. By the time her mind returned to the present, the hallway was empty. With a start, she turned towards the classroom and glanced inside. The students were still getting settled in their seats. She glanced at the front and wondered about the short little boy in the green suit standing near the chalkboard. Then the boy gestured at her. With a shrug, she steeled herself and walked into the room, mentally berating herself for being so ridiculously shy.

"This is Hinata Hyuga," the little boy announced. "She's a new student who will be joining us in Class 3-A. Please make her feel welcome, okay?"

_Is this kid their teacher?!_

Hinata didn't have time to contemplate the absurdity of that thought before she saw the students leaping from their seats to crowd around her. A deluge of questions began. The cacophony of teenage voices washed over her as she tried to understand what they were all saying. They kept speaking over each other, growing louder and louder in volume.

"Where are you from?!" someone asked.

"Um...I lived in a small village in the country before coming here," Hinata answered hesitantly, not quite sure what to say and knowing that "I was sleeping in the World Tree" probably wouldn't be an acceptable answer.

"Are you living in the dorms?!"

"Yes."

"Who's your roommate?!"

"Uh, it's Za—"

"What's your bust size?!"

_Wait...what?_

The rest of the class grew silent and stared at girl who had asked, a redhead with a spiky ponytail. She was smiling and holding a camera.

"What?" she asked the other students, her smile somehow appearing innocent and lecherous at the same time. "Don't act like you weren't curious."

"C-calm down," the child stuttered. Most of the students ignored him as their chatter began again.

"Everyone go back to your seats!" a blonde student exclaimed "Class has already started! You should not display such shameful behavior in front of Negi-sensei!"

Hinata breathed a sigh of relief as the students slowly began to obey. The child cleared his throat—was that child supposed to be their teacher?—and spoke up in a slightly more authoritative voice:

"Anyway, Hinata, would you care to introduce yourself?" the child-teacher asked.

Hinata sighed. She hated speaking in front of large groups of strangers. Even after so many years of life, she still could not stand public speaking.

_How pitiful is this? Is the monster who destroyed all of the Hidden Ninja Villages too nervous to stand up in front of a room full of children?_

Sighing under her breath, she steeled herself and said, "I'm Hinata Hyuga, although I prefer to just be called Hinata. I..." she trailed off, wondering what she could say that would both make sense and be at least a partial truth. It would be easier to remember a story that was half-true, after all. "I'm from a tiny little village in the middle of nowhere, as I said, so I'm still getting used to living in a big place like Mahora. I went to school when I was little, but I've been home-schooled since I was twelve, so this is all very new to me. Thank you for the warm welcome."

The cacophony began again, and once again the blond student had to restore order when the teacher's pitiful attempt failed. Hinata sighed. These students were even more energetic than her fellow ninja from Konoha.

_Don't go there,_ she told herself. _You're done crying for those you've lost._

"Please take a seat next to Zazie-san in the back," Negi told her. Hinata did so, ignoring the glances from her fellow students as she sat down next to her mercifully quiet roommate. If this was what the rest of her class was usually like, she was immensely glad to be living with someone as sedate as Zazie.

"Now, I have an additional announcement to make," Negi continued. A wide grin spread across his face as he exclaimed, "Next week, Class 3-A will be going on a school field trip to Kyoto and Nara!"

The whole class cheered. Hinata almost raised her hand to ask what Kyoto and Nara were, but changed her mind and held her tongue. Everyone here seemed to know what those places were, so she decided that she'd rather not single herself out even more than she already had.

_I might as well treat this as a mission,_ she realized. _I should try to blend in and gather as much information as I can._

"There are a lot of people at our school, so the destination is always chosen from a list of exotic locations like Hawaii," the blonde student that had taken charge of the class earlier announced. She stood up and continued, "Since there are so many international students in our class, and Negi-sensei himself is in Japan for the first time, we decided upon a cultural trip to Kyoto and Nara."

Briefly, Hinata wondered if Nara had anything to do with the Nara clan. Shikamaru's family had owned a large forest outside of Konoha.

It was the first time she had seen any sort of connection between the world she had known for most of her life and the new world in which she had just awoken. Since regaining consciousness in that infirmary, she had felt detached and adrift, not really part of the new world in which she had found herself. She had gone along with the Dean's plans only because she had no idea what else to do. If she could find some clue, or just the tiniest little hint of a connection...perhaps she could then regain control of her life and decide for herself what to do next.

More loud shouts distracted her from her thoughts, and she looked up to see the teacher and the two smallest teenagers she had ever seen jumping up and down and cheering like little children.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered under her breath.

* * *

Evangeline watched the new student with narrowed eyes, ignoring the chaos that had overtaken the class after Negi's announcement. She _knew_ there was something odd about the girl, something other than her strange white eyes. It could not be a coincidence that a new student showed up so soon after Evangeline had felt that strange, yet somewhat familiar power. There was no way the two events could be completely unconnected.

She _knew_ that Hinata was the source. That much was plain. Even now, she could just barely sense a hint of that very same aura of power, and it came from Hinata's direction. Now she just had to determine what was so different about Hinata Hyuga.

_Perhaps I should tell the brat...or the Dean?_ she asked herself, though she shook her head a moment later. She was still feeling a little vindictive about her loss to Negi. It would be easier, not to mention quite a bit more entertaining, to just sit back and watch events unfold...

* * *

_**Author****'s**** Note:** Wow! This is already one of the most popular stories I've ever written, and it's only been out for a week! Thank you everybody for reading, and please PLEASE let me know what you think! It's been a while since I last wrote a longer story, so I'm a little desperate for feedback. I won't do anything as silly as swearing not to upload a chapter before getting X number of reviews, but I'm not above a little groveling._

_I would say that this is the last Author's Note for a while, but I'll probably have something else to say after the next chapter, too. I'll try to keep it short._


	3. Of Blood and Shadows

"Hinata Hyuga... Who the hell _is_ she?"

With a frustrated growl, Evangeline A. K. McDowell continued pacing back and forth across her cottage's bedroom, doing her best to restrain her temper. She had spent the entire day staring surreptitiously at her new classmate, but had unfortunately learned very little. She _knew_ Hinata was different, somehow. She wasn't human, or not entirely. There was something very strange about the power she possessed.

That, on its own, wouldn't normally be enough to bother the tiny vampire. At least half of her classmates registered as something more than a baseline human to Evangeline's finely honed senses. It was the fact that Hinata's aura seemed so damned _familiar_, but was still completely inscrutable, that was really getting on her nerves.

"I _know_ I recognize her aura, damn it!" Evangeline grumbled as she reached one end of the room and spun on her heel to continue pacing. "I've never met her before, but I _know_ her!"

"Perhaps you _have_ met her before, Master, and you simply cannot recall the event."

Evangeline spun around to glare at her gynoid servant and partner. "No, I've never seen her before, Chachamaru," she murmured. "I don't recognize _her_. I recognize her _power_. And it's _so bloody annoying_ that I can't determine why!"

"Have you felt power like hers before?" Chachamaru asked.

"_No!_" Evangeline exclaimed as she continued pacing. "But I recognize it anyway! I recognize it so well that it's like looking at _myself_ in a goddamned _mirror_ and yet I can't—"

She froze. "A mirror..." she murmured. "A reflection..."

Evangeline wasn't normally one for self-examination, especially not in a literal sense, but now she turned her senses inward and, for once, really _looked_ at herself. She examined her own aura, her own power, and huffed in annoyance when the answer to her conundrum finally came to her. It was so _obvious_!

"A vampire," she murmured. "She's a bloody _vampire_."

* * *

_**Bloodlines**_

_**Chapter 3 – Of Blood and Shadows**_

* * *

Hinata sighed heavily as she stepped into her dorm, closing the door behind her. She was alone, as her oddly silent roommate had vanished after their final class. Zazie had said something about having an appointment... Well, she hadn't exactly said anything aloud, but Hinata had managed to understand the gist of her nonverbal message.

Before graduating from the Ninja Academy when she was twelve, Hinata had rarely spoken to anyone outside of her own family. Her crippling shyness had slowly faded during her time as a full-fledged Ninja, but she could still recall the terror she had once felt upon meeting new people.

Her new roommate was even quieter than that, however. Zazie hadn't spoken at all since Hinata had first met her the previous night. Although they sat together in the back corner of the classroom throughout the day, Hinata still had yet to hear a single word from the white-haired girl. She was almost convinced Zazie was mute.

Hinata kicked off her shoes and dropped her bag next to her desk before climbing up into the top bunk to lie down for a while. As she gazed up at the ceiling, her thoughts drifted back and she contemplated how her first day had gone.

Most of her classes had been rather boring, unfortunately. For some subjects, such as mathematics, she already knew the material, having studied it extensively in the Ninja Academy or learned it on the job as a Ninja. In other classes, she had been entirely lost as teachers spoke of things beyond her comprehension. One of her classes, the one taught by the little kid, had been entirely about some foreign language that she did not understand in the slightest.

The only subject that had really piqued her interest during the day had been History. Hinata still knew very little about what had occurred during her long sleep, and was looking forward to discovering what she had missed. So far, she had only learned that the world had apparently forgotten about the Ninja and their endless wars. Ninja techniques had fallen into obscurity. She had even gone as far as looking up the word "Chakra" in the dictionary, only to discover that it now had an entirely different meaning. The world seemed so incredibly mundane.

She smiled at the thought. Hinata had destroyed the Hidden Villages for many reasons, some more selfish than others. On her good days, she told herself that it had been for the sake of the world and its people. Now that she could see how much the world had prospered in the absence of Ninja, she stood by that reasoning. Although the various different countries throughout the world still fought on occasion, the wars of the same massive scale as those that had raged throughout the Elemental Countries were far more rare these days, the last one having occurred more than half a century ago. There had never been more than a decade or two of peace between wars during the era of Ninja.

Hinata had spent her lunch time in the school's library, researching all that had occurred during her absence. Apparently her rampage had set back the world's technological progress quite a bit. Only recently had the world surpassed where it had been at the height of the Ninja's power. Still, there were plenty of new innovations to discover. Without Ninja to serve as human weapons during wartime, ingenuity and technology had flourished in place of Jutsu and Chakra manipulation.

She had wanted to return to the library to read some more; it was the largest library she had ever seen and the urge to read every book she could find was almost overpowering. Unfortunately, her various teachers had all seen fit to assign her plenty of homework on her first day. She was already behind, having come into her classes with very little prior knowledge on the subjects. Math would probably be easy enough; she had been taught Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry as a child and was far ahead of her classmates in that regard. History was so interesting to her that she doubted she would have much trouble keeping up. Although her vocabulary was several thousand years out of date—the number was, of course, a completely uneducated guess that fluctuated depending on her mood—what she spoke was so similar to Japanese that it just sounded like an odd dialect, so her Japanese class would probably not be problematic either.

Science and English, however, were different. Beyond the basic physics taught in the Ninja Academy, Hinata knew very little about Science in general. The English language hadn't existed at all in the time of the Ninja, as far as she knew, but it was apparently one of the most pervasive languages in the world these days.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts as she sat up and dropped from her bed to the floor. Looking at her bag that was stuffed almost beyond its capacity with textbooks, notebooks, papers, and homework assignments, Hinata frowned and began to consider her rather large workload. She licked her lips absently as she began to unpack. She was getting thirsty. Actually, she was utterly _parched_. Almost painfully so.

"Oh, no," the pale girl muttered as she felt her canines begin to lengthen. Her throat felt bone-dry, completely devoid of moisture. Pain shot through her abdomen as her stomach searched for something, _anything_ to digest and found nothing at all. Her knees gave out and she fell to the floor, involuntarily curling up into a ball as her abdominal muscles tensed. Her spine cracked in protest as she hugged her knees to her chest.

Hinata felt her thirst begin to overwhelm her as her canines grew even longer and sharper than before. Now they looked more like a snake's fangs than human teeth.

_Of all the times for this to happen,_ Hinata lamented as she groaned in pain.

_I need blood._

* * *

"My poor wallet..."

Konoemon Konoe, Dean of Mahora, frowned as he leaned back in his office chair. He held up his wallet and fixed his rueful gaze upon it when he realized just how light it was. While Mana Tatsumiya had indeed come in after her classes that afternoon to discuss her fees with him, and had even offered him a discount on her latest job despite the fact that he had already said he would pay the full price this time, she had still charged him quite a bit more than he would have liked to pay, and hadn't offered him as much of a "repeat customer discount" as he had anticipated.

"She really could have knocked off a little more," he grumbled under his breath as he slipped his wallet back into his pocket. "She must have _millions_ stashed away after all of the contracts she's been taking this year..."

"Sir?" a familiar voice intruded on his thoughts. Konoemon looked up to see Takamichi standing in the hallway just outside his office.

"Come in," the Dean told him. "And close the door when you do. I believe I know why you are here."

"You...You do?" Takamichi asked hesitantly as he stepped into the office and shut the door behind him. He sighed and shook his head as he approached Konoemon's desk. "Of course you do. You always seem to know what other people are thinking."

"It's not magic, if that's what you're wondering," the Dean pointed out, chuckling. "I'm just very good at understanding people. You might say I'm a nosy old man with a lot of practice at being nosy. And old."

Now it was the younger man's turn to chuckle as he reached the desk. Konoemon noticed that he chose not to sit down. His humor faded into seriousness as he leaned forward and rested both elbows on his desk.

"What is it, then." he prompted. It was not a question. He was fairly certain why Takamichi had come to see him. Still, he had learned over his many years that it was best to let someone air their concerns themselves.

"It's about Hinata," the platinum-blond teacher began. "You..._do_ know what she is, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. She is a Shinso Vampire."

Takamichi frowned at the Dean's nonchalant response. "Then I cannot understand why you chose to enroll her in Mahora Academy. If she is a threat, then you are needlessly endangering her classmates by allowing her to attend classes with them without restraining her in any way. If she is _not_ a threat, then you had no right to force her to enroll."

"She _is_ a minor," Konoemon reminded him.

"As a magical being who is most likely aware of her status and not a citizen of any nation of Mundus Vetus, she qualifies as an adult according to the laws of Mundus Magicus. You're avoiding the question."

"Nonsense. I was simply considering how to phrase my answer. So, you said that I shouldn't have made a decision on her behalf if she means no harm, and that she shouldn't be here at all if she _is_ a threat." The old man gazed at Takamichi and sighed. "Answer one question for me, then, before I answer yours. What should we do if we are not sure whether she is dangerous or benign?"

"Try to find out," the younger teacher answered succinctly.

"Exactly!" the Dean exclaimed as he leaned back in his chair with a smile. "So, do you now see why I chose to enroll her?"

"Not at all, sir." Takamichi still looked confused. Konoemon frowned and considered how to better explain his actions.

"How do we find out whether she poses a threat?" he finally asked.

"Keep her under observation, of course... Oh, now I see. You mean to have her watched. And to do so, you must keep her here in Mahora."

"Not only that, but I also had to do so without seeming to actually _confine_ her here," Konoemon explained, "or she might try to escape. If she were to succeed in an escape attempt, we would have done far more harm than good in keeping her here against her will. So I had to make it seem like a good idea for her to remain here."

"And you did that by convincing her she would have nowhere to go if she left Mahora," Takamichi caught on, though he still looked unsure. "That was risky, though. What if she had called your bluff?"

"Well, she didn't, so it hardly matters any more," the Dean evaded. "She chose to stay, or at least did not protest when I decided she should stay. Now she is not only remaining in Mahora, where she can be watched, but is also doing it of her own free will."

"So that explains why you enrolled her, but why in Class 3-A? Surely you've noticed that she looks a little older than most of her classmates."

"She must be watched," Konoemon reiterated. "There are several students in this school who must be watched. They are all in Class 3-A. Haven't you ever wondered why?" He paused for a moment to let Takamichi speak up, but the man remained silent. "Class 3-A has more magical or magically-sensitive students than any other class in this school. Additionally, some of those students are also the strongest combatants, in both magical and physical disciplines, in all of Mahora. It is easiest to keep her under observation when she is in the same class as both the people watching her as well as the other people being watched. In fact, that is why I had Miss Nagase, Miss Sakurazaki, and Miss Tatsumiya visit me yesterday."

Takamichi winced when he heard the third name. "Tatsumiya? How much did she—"

Konoemon frowned as his thoughts returned to his wallet. "Not much less than her usual going rate," he lamented. His pained expression vanished a moment late as he grew serious once more. "Still, it was worth it. I now have three strong, powerful students keeping an eye on her. Should she go astray, they can at least keep her from harming others until the heavy hitters come to subdue her. Perhaps they could even take care of her themselves. She is quite weak at the moment, and it may take a while for her to regain her strength."

"They cannot always be around her, though," Takamichi pointed out. "Why did you put her in Zazie's room if she is potentially dangerous? Evangeline isn't even allowed in the dorms at all!"

The Dean sighed as he stroked his beard. "I know you still feel quite protective of your former students," he said quietly, "but remember who—or rather, _what—_Zazie is. She can defend herself."

"That can't possibly be the only reason," the former teacher of Class 3-A said. "You _never_ do anything for just one reason."

Now Konoemon smiled. "Of course not!" he agreed. "I am actually hoping that, should Miss Hyuga's intentions prove benign, she and Zazie might actually be able to help each other a little." He leaned forward once more, gazing curiously at Takamichi. "Now, is there anything else you wish to ask?"

Takamichi thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No, sir," he declined respectfully.

"Then, if there is nothing else you wish to discuss, you may go," the Dean dismissed him. "I believe Shizuna is waiting outside. Send her in when you leave, please." The platinum-blond teacher turned around and walked towards the door. When his hand touched the knob, he stopped before turning it to glance back at the old man.

"You're playing a dangerous game with the lives of my—of Negi's students," he said quietly. "I hope, for their sake and for Negi's, that you do not lose."

The door closed behind him, leaving Konoemon alone once more. He turned towards the large window that dominated the back wall of his office and frowned as he gazed out over Mahora.

"As do I," he murmured softly. "As do I."

* * *

Shizuna Minamoto frowned as she walked through the hallway of the Middle School building of Mahora Academy, carrying a stack of papers under one arm. She had a lot on her mind, far more than usual. Her meeting with the Dean had been...a little bit shocking.

"_You did check her vitals when she was under your care, did you not?"_

"_Of course I did! I simply assumed my instruments were faulty. You know how ambient magical energy sometimes interferes with sensitive technology. She was still heavily infused with the World Tree's power."_

"_Well, now you know the truth. And please, do not make such assumptions again. Better safe than sorry."_

"_...Yes, sir."_

Shizuna rubbed her temples and attempted to clear her mind, but utterly failed to dislodge her circular thoughts.

_A vampire. A Shinso Vampire._

All of the signs were there, of course. Everything from Hinata's lack of a pulse to her slightly elongated canines pointed towards that conclusion. Still...she was shocked. Evangeline was bad enough, and her power was restrained by the spells keeping her confined within Mahora. Hinata, however, had no such restraints.

And what about Zazie Rainyday, her roommate? Wouldn't she be in danger, rooming with a vampire?!

She shook her head again, and this time succeeded in breaking out of her thoughts. She promised herself that she would return to the Dean's office to air her doubts later. Right now, she had an appointment to keep. As the school's guidance counselor (among many other duties), she had to be open and able to freely converse with students about whatever troubled them. She certainly couldn't bring her _own_ troubles to a meeting and burden a student with them!

When she opened the door to her office and saw the student had already arrived, she sighed in defeat and wondered why she had even bothered. Seated in front of her was none other than Zazie herself.

Shizuna walked around her desk and sat down behind it, then took a moment to gaze at the timid girl.

"Good afternoon, Zazie," she greeted kindly. The girl in question looked down, replying with a small nod. Shizuna took a moment to sort through the papers she had carried, separating them based on importance and immediacy before stacking them up once more and placing them off to the side. Zazie said nothing, watching passively until the task was complete. With her desk cleared, Shizuna returned her gaze to Zazie and waited.

At some point during these sessions, it had become a routine. Shizuna would attempt to wait out Zazie, to get her to speak first.

Unfortunately, it never worked. As usual, Shizuna gave in and spoke up.

"So, you have a new roommate," she said. "Is everything alright between you two? Is she settling in just fine?"

Yes, it was a completely transparent attempt to check on Hinata and make sure she hadn't done anything...well...vampiric. Shizuna regretted asking the moment she finished speaking, although she knew it would have come up at some point during the conversation, regardless.

Zazie's eyes narrowed. She glared at her counselor, who smiled ruefully.

"Yes, I know," Shizuna told her. "You prefer to live alone. Does it bother you, having to share your room with someone?" She put all thoughts of vampires out of her mind. If the Dean planned to give Hinata the benefit of the doubt, then she had no real choice but to follow his lead.

Zazie began to nod, but stopped a moment later. She frowned for a moment, then finally shrugged. Shizuna sighed. It was better than an outright "Yes," but it wasn't much to go on.

"Does she keep to herself, for the most part?" Shizuna asked. "She seems like a quiet person, at least."

The girl nodded reluctantly. Then she started wiping her eyes as if she had been crying, although her eyes were perfectly dry.

Shizuna held back a sigh. Speaking with Zazie was like playing a very delicate game of charades. In addition to guessing the concept the girl was trying to convey, Shizuna also had to avoid saying something that might upset her. Zazie's mood often seemed to sit on a razor's edge, and the last thing the counselor wanted to do was unbalance her.

Zazie made more exaggerated motions and facial expressions, and Shizuna carefully pieced together their meaning.

"Hinata cried last night? In her...dreams? She's...sad, inside," Shizuna translated aloud, receiving a nod with every sentence. Shizuna's thoughts raced as she wondered whether perhaps Hinata herself should come in for a visit.

_She's a vampire, you dolt!_

Shizuna pushed that traitorous thought to the back of her mind.

"But...other than that...?" Shizuna prodded. It sounded like Hinata might have experienced a traumatic event in her past, something that still haunted her. She knew Zazie wouldn't have brought it up if it were just a normal nightmare. The kind of nightmare that might cause someone to cry in their sleep was more than likely a past memory, not a simple bad dream...

_Not that it's any of my business_, Shizuna reminded herself. _If she comes in to see me, then perhaps it might be. But this meeting is about Zazie, not Hinata or my concerns about her._

She decisively pushed away thoughts of vampires and nightmares and resolved not to attempt to psychoanalyze Hinata unless the girl herself came to see her.

The two of them continued to converse in their odd way, and despite Shizuna's earlier resolution, the conversation continued to turn towards Zazie's new roommate. Shizuna learned more about Hinata during that session than she did about Zazie herself. She learned that Hinata was apparently deeply sad, perhaps even depressed, but that she hid it behind a mask of indifference. She learned that Hinata did not like to talk, and that she was abnormally skilled at understanding Zazie's unique way of conversing without speech. She learned that Hinata had enjoyed their History class, and had spent her lunchtime in the library, skimming through biographies and her History textbook.

It seemed at first that Zazie and Hinata were getting along better than Zazie had implied earlier. It was only when the allotted hour was up, and the girl stood to go, that Shizuna realized she had been completely duped.

"Wait a moment, Zazie," she said. Zazie, who had reached towards the doorknob, turned back to face Shizuna and brushed an errant lock of snow-white hair from her face.

Shizuna raised an eyebrow and almost laughed when she saw the perfectly innocent expression on Zazie's face.

"Don't think I didn't notice what you've been doing for the past hour," Shizuna said quietly, with a wry smile. "You kept deflecting the conversation away from personal topics to talk about Hinata instead. You may have gotten away with it this time, since I _did _want to know how you two were getting along, but don't think for even a single moment that your little trick will work twice." Zazie stuck out her tongue. Shizuna almost did the same, though she caught herself just in time to keep up the appearance of maturity. "Anyway, I'll see you in two weeks. However, in the mean time, I have an assignment for you."

Zazie made another face in response. The grimace told Shizuna exactly what the girl thought about having even _more_ homework than what she had already been assigned that day.

"Don't worry, it's not like your school assignments," Shizuna reassured her. "All I want you to do is enjoy your trip to Kyoto and Nara. That's it. Try to spend some time getting to know your roommate and getting along with whatever group you're assigned to, but above all, have fun. Can you do that for me?"

Shizuna smiled. Zazie offered one of her very rare smiles in return, her face lighting up with anticipation and excitement. It was easy to see how much she was looking forward to the upcoming class trip.

As Zazie left, Shizuna's thoughts turned once more to Hinata. She wondered whether the vampire would be a problem...or whether she might simply have her own problems to deal with.

* * *

Hinata sat on Zazie's mattress, staring at the floor. Her breath came in short, quick gasps. Even though she now sat upright, she was still curled up as tightly as she could manage. Her chin rested on her knees as her shaking arms clutched her legs. She could feel her thirst growing by the minute, the need for blood beginning to consume her completely. Soon, she wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to bite into the nearest warm body.

"I can't..." she muttered between gasps. "Not here. Not now."

Hinata was not stupid. She knew that, despite how mundane the world seemed compared to the world in which she had grown up, there were still plenty of people with enough power to subdue her without any trouble at all. Even though she had at last been freed from her prison in that gigantic tree, her strength was only just beginning to return. She knew for a fact that neither the Dean nor at least a few of the teachers were quite what they seemed. She could sense the tightly controlled power that several Mahora teachers (including both the Dean and, oddly enough, the ten-year-old boy) seemed to exude. It wasn't Chakra. That much was plain. They clearly weren't Ninja, or at least not the kind of Ninja that she had once known. But they were certainly not mere civilians.

She had wanted to try using her Byakugan—a genetic trait that manifested in the eyes and had been passed down through the Hyuga line for hundreds of years—to observe their power and discover its source. However, using that ability would consume all of what little strength she had regained over the past day. So she did what she could with just her observational skills, which weren't exactly lacking. Since the Hyuga family's combat techniques relied entirely on observing their opponents with the Byakugan and reacting to their movements before they actually moved, she had been trained in the art of observation for most of her childhood. She had put her hard-won skills to use, watching her classmates and teachers throughout the day.

That was when she started noticing the looks. The small blonde student that looked no older than ten had spent most of the day watching her with a frown, as if Hinata were a puzzle she was trying to solve. A few of her other classmates had glanced her way as well, their expressions very different from the innocent curiosity of their classmates.

While Negi Springfield, the ten-year-old English and Homeroom teacher, had treated her as if she were any other student, a few of her other teachers had been wary of her. Some had seemed more nervous, or even outright _afraid_ of her!

She wondered if they knew she was a monster.

The sound of the room's door opening interrupted her musings. Hinata peeked over her knees to see that her roommate had finally returned. Her thirst _surged_ at the sight of the girl. She barely held herself in check as she forced her gaze back to her knees, away from the sight of the artery just beneath the dark skin of Zazie's neck.

"Hi...Zazie," she gasped.

The nearly silent footsteps of the other girl stopped. Hinata supposed Zazie was turning to look at her, but she didn't dare look up and risk catching sight of the delicious blood vessels pumping away beneath Zazie's dusky skin...

A cool hand laid itself across her forehead. Hinata instinctively flinched away from the touch. There were a few moments of utter silence, neither of the girls moving, before Hinata saw two dark hands slip into her field of vision. The hands cupped either side of her head and forced her to look up. Hinata didn't have the strength to resist. Her gaze immediately landed on Zazie's eyes before unconsciously slipping down to the girl's neck. She shuddered as she fought against the instincts that were _screaming_ at her to jump the girl, pin her down, and drain every last drop of blood in her veins.

Tendons in the neck moved. It took Hinata a moment to realize that Zazie had nodded. Her view of Zazie's neck was abruptly blocked by the girl's shirt, and as if Zazie had broken a spell, Hinata now found it easy to tear her gaze away. Her eyes didn't travel far, however, as they soon landed on the exposed skin of Zazie's stomach as the girl stripped off her shirt and dropped it on the floor.

"Wha—?"

Still clad in her skirt, but wearing nothing above the waist save a simple black sports bra, Zazie moved towards Hinata, who scooted backwards as fast as she could until she hit the wall behind her.

"N-No, Zazie...don't..." she protested half-heartedly as her gaze once again found its way to her roommate's neck. If she drained the girl, it would put her own life in danger as well. The sheer number of people observing her throughout the day, the number of them who had worn an aura of power beyond what normal humans should have, had fully convinced her that they could easily defeat her...perhaps even kill her. She couldn't risk that.

Zazie leaned closer, blocking off Hinata's escape. Briefly, she wished that she had managed to climb back onto her own mattress, rather than sitting on Zazie's bottom bunk. With the desks on either side of the bed, her own bed directly above, the wall behind her and Zazie in front, she had no escape route.

Zazie climbed onto the bed and knelt in front of her. The muscles in her neck shifted under Hinata's gaze as the white-haired girl tilted her head to the side. She pointed at Hinata, then at her own exposed neck.

Hinata's jaw dropped.

"You want m-me to...d-drink?!" Hinata stuttered, incredulous. Zazie's nod shocked her even further. "You...You know what I am?! But..." she trailed off, unsure of what to say. Part of Hinata's mind wondered why she was hesitating at all. She had a willing victim, offering herself freely! Another part of her was repulsed. She had survived in the past by feeding on the bastards who had wronged her, and later on those who had come to kill her in the name of revenge for their fallen friends and family. It was different with someone who was _willing_. And, loath as she was to admit it even just to herself, Hinata actually _liked_ Zazie! The quiet girl was the closest thing to a friend that Hinata had. What if she drank too much? What if she drained her roommate dry? What would the Dean do to her if he found Zazie's corpse emptied of all her blood? It was clear that her strength was still far too diminished to take on the multitude of powerful teachers and students she had met throughout the day, and she knew they would come after her with everything they had if she went as far as murdering a student who just so happened to be her friend—

A dark hand slapped her, interrupting her spiraling thoughts and leaving behind a stinging red hand-print on her cheek. She shook her head, but her eyes remained on Zazie's neck the entire time.

"Are you sure?" Hinata finally asked. "I could kill you if I drink too much, you know."

Her attempt at dissuasion failed entirely when Zazie answered with a nod.

"I don't know what happens if I drink from someone and leave them alive," Hinata admitted as she managed to shift her gaze to Zazie's amber eyes, privately wondering why she was protesting so much. "I've never...actually done it before. It might...It might kill you anyway."

Zazie rolled her eyes. Hinata frowned at her, then sighed when she realized she was out of arguments. Her thirst hadn't abated, instead growing even worse while she dithered. Although she had already believed her throat was dry as a bone, it had somehow grown even more parched since her roommate's arrival. Even just _breathing_ was beginning to hurt as her instincts shrieked at her to lean forward and bite down, draining every last drop from her willing sacrifice. She reined in those thoughts before they could continue, and decided that she would have to act now, or her blood-starved body would act in her stead.

Giving in to her instincts would mean certain death for Zazie. Those very same instincts would overwhelm her in moments if she waited any longer. She had only one option left.

"I'm sorry," she murmured as she leaned forward, surprised to discover that she genuinely meant it. Zazie's neck filled her vision, and then she opened her mouth and bit down.

_I'm so sorry..._

The first taste of Zazie's blood sent chills down her spine. It tasted different, so very _different_ from anything else she had ever sampled. It was strong, too. _Incredibly_ strong. So strong that Hinata's mind almost went blank as the power flooded through her body.

Zazie wasn't human. Hinata wasn't sure what her roommate was, but she certainly _wasn't_ human. No human had such sweet-tasting blood. No human blood had the power to flood her with so much strength after just one gulp.

Hinata continued to drink eagerly as Zazie sat perfectly still, not putting up even a single shred of resistance. It was only when the white-haired girl began to sag in Hinata's arms that she managed to stop and pull herself away, watching as blood sluggishly dripped from the puncture marks in Zazie's neck.

The blood clotted almost instantly, the bite mark quickly scabbing over. At this rate, Hinata realized, the wound would be completely healed within minutes.

"What...What _are_ you?" Hinata asked quietly as she stood up. With her thirst sated at last, her mind was finally clear. And, thankfully, she had managed not to kill her roommate...who was apparently not quite human, if the speed at which she healed was any indication. The scabs had already begun to flake away, revealing pale skin in the place of what had, moments ago, been two deep puncture marks.

Zazie shrugged in reply and slid beneath her blanket, closing her eyes. Hinata waited a moment, but when it became clear that Zazie wouldn't offer any further answer, she gave it up for a lost cause and climbed into the top bunk. As she got comfortable, she could hear her roommate's breaths begin deepen. By the time Hinata was beneath her covers, she knew that Zazie was fast asleep. She remained awake for the moment, her mind racing with unanswered questions, chief of which was:

_What are you, Zazie Rainyday?_

* * *

It did not take long for Hinata to fall asleep as well, and she soon joined Zazie in the land of dreams. Long before the clock struck midnight, they were both sleeping peacefully.

The moon, a tiny crescent half-obscured by clouds, was shining far too dimly to illuminate the entire dorm room. Most of the room was in shadow, and as the final chime of Mahora's immense clock tower echoed across the school-city, the shadows began to shift. Slowly, an amorphous mass grew from the darkest corner of the room, reaching forward into the pallid light of the moon. It grew to the size of a human, but did not take on the shape of one, choosing to remain an indistinct, shapeless being of shadows and darkness.

Pale white specks of matter grew from the living shadow, traveling towards each other and combining to form a grinning, circular mask of white bone that sat on what passed for its head. The creature moved through the beams of moonlight shining across the room, stopping once it was near the bunk bed occupied by the two slumbering girls.

It stretched upwards, its body—if you can call it that—narrowing as it grew taller and taller until it could look down upon the top bunk, looming over its sleeping occupant. A long tongue extended through the mouth of the mask, dripping with saliva. It could almost taste its prey already. All it had to do was lean forward and—

"_No._"

The command was so soft it was almost inaudible, but it was forceful enough to stop the shadow in its tracks. The mask slowly moved down the amorphous mass, traveling until it was beneath the top bunk, and able to peer at the girl in the bottom bunk. It gazed at Zazie, who was sitting up and staring back at the creature with eyes that now shone crimson instead of amber.

"You will leave her be," Zazie spoke quietly, though with steel lacing her voice.

The shadow shifted, as if unsure. The mask began to move upwards again.

"Don't _touch_ her," Zazie ordered, her voice having grown even quieter. Still, something in her tone made the shadow stop moving once again. It wavered with indecision.

Then the mask's expression changed, its eye-holes narrowing as its creepy smile slipped into an angry grimace. It shot forward at an incredible speed. The mouth opened, the tongue extended, and it reached for Hinata with all its might.

Zazie's arm blurred out of sight for just a moment. The mask disintegrated as the shadow split across the middle and faded away. She glanced down at her fingers, curled up in a claw-like shape with small bits of shadow clinging to the undersides of her fingernails. She shook her hand twice, dislodging the shadowy scraps. They, too, faded away once they separated from her skin.

She turned to glare at the shadows in the far corner of the room. They were roiling angrily as more bone-white masks coalesced, their eyes already narrowed with rage. Zazie answered their glares with one of her own. Her crimson eyes grew brighter than the wan moonlight shining through the windows, until they glowed with their own intense inner fire. The shadows wilted, their restlessness fading as the masks' expressions changed to something resembling fear.

"She is under my protection," Zazie spoke again, her voice even and quiet. "She is not to be harmed. _Do you understand?_"

She watched as the masks slowly bobbed up and down, then fell to pieces and vanished back into the darkness. Zazie kept up her glowing glare for a moment longer, before she released the breath she hadn't even realized she was holding and finally looked away. The glow in her eyes dimmed, her red irises fading back to their usual amber hue.

She allowed herself to relax as she detected no more movement from the shadows.

_Why did I do that?_ she wondered. _Why did I defend her? Why did I allow her to drink my blood?_

Zazie's confused and curious thoughts chased each other around her mind in an endless circle, eventually leading her into a restless sleep.

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ So...it's been a while. How have you been?_

_Sorry about the long wait. I'd meant to keep to a rough schedule of one chapter every week or so, but this chapter was particularly problematic. Of all the chapters I wrote during NaNoWriMo, I was probably most proud of this one. And yet, when I began editing it, I realized that it wasn't nearly as good as I'd thought, and was desperately in need of a complete rewrite. Christmas and New Years sort of got in the way of that, as I was far too busy to even think about working on "Bloodlines" until it was all over. In the evening on New Years Day, I rewrote the entire chapter, adding in another 2300 words or so in the process and fixing the pacing that was, to be honest, quite broken. When I finished the second draft, I thought I was done. A quick once-over of a printout with my red pen in hand and it would be ready to publish!_

_Instead, a bloodbath ensued. I think I used up half of my pen's remaining ink while marking up this chapter. "Bloodlines" seems like a very fitting title, indeed._

_So. Errors fixed. Glaring problems solved. Plot holes filled in. Pacing smoothed out. Grammatical mistakes corrected. Hopefully._

_What do you think of the result? Let me know in a review!_


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